By this Lantern's Light
by J.W. Cart
Summary: Kyle Rayner and Wally West AKA the Green Lantern and the Flash find themselves in Middle Earth with an item that should be impossible to exist.
1. This is all your fault

Green Lantern and the Flash belong to DC Comics.

Lord of the Rings belongs to Tolkien.

The story is mine.

* * *

"You realize," Kyle, said, "This is all your fault." He hovered over the museum building that was being robbed, the Flash hovering by his side, covered in the green glow of his power ring. It was three in the morning. He hadn't slept in three days working on things that were due tomorrow. Today actually. At twelve. And they still weren't done. Yet for some reason he was out, with Wally doing the "crime-busting" thing. It didn't start out that way, of course:

Nine that evening he was at home, surrounded in his papers and pencils. He had just gotten into that creative grove. The drawings were coming out, and they were coming out good. It looked like he actually might make the deadline. A very good thing. So of course, as according to Murphy, something went wrong. He got a knock on the door.

Answering it revealed the one, the only Wally West. The Flash. Grinning wider than the Cheshire cat, he leaned up against the doorframe with the exhortation: "Boy's night out!" Being the responsible person with a deadline that he was, Kyle said no. Wally started pleading. And doing that zipping around the apartment looking at everything with the curiosity of a kitten or a five-year-old child thing.

It would just be for a little bit. Just a couple of drinks. What harm could it do? He'd be right back to the drawing board in a flash. (And he said this with a smirk) The deadline would be met.

Kyle relented.

If only to get rid of Wally. (Or so he told himself.)

That was at nine. At ten the couple of drinks had turned into the Flash version of bar hopping. Some people hopped bars in the same part of the city; Wally West bar hopped the same side of the continent. They went up and down the East Coast to a couple of "really good places" that he knew. It was probably the fact that he was already a little drunk that Kyle agreed to go along with it. If he was sober he never would have. (Again, or so he told himself.)

About half an hour ago they decided to patrol. Kyle wasn't too sure why they had decided to do this. Nothing was really making sense any more. But when bad guys call who were the Superheroes to keep them waiting? Which brought him back to, "This is all your fault."

Wally grinned at him, that same grin. "What is?" Kyle sighed, deciding not to dignify Wally with an answer. Instead he "gently" let the Flash down onto the ground. A grunt was all he heard as the Flash dashed into the museum, a red streak vanishing behind him, leaving spots in Kyle's eyes. He followed, leaving his own green trail of light, knowing that Wally would be mocking him for being slow. As he always did.

The two heroes smoothly made their way inside the Museum past the exhibits of dinosaurs and the Pilgrims towards the back of the museum where they kept the special rotating exhibits. This time of it was of Ming Vases from the third Dynasty. Not a good place to have an all out superhero brawl. The Flash zipped through the room searching for the intruders, the delicate vases trembling on their stands, causing Kyle to cringe. He skidded to a stop and made a motion that he couldn't find anyone.

Confused Kyle landed and looked around the room. They had seen the intruders when they had gone window hopping. (This was the reason that they were at the museum in the first place, to look through the windows; drunk men have no shame, nor sense.)

"They were here," he said.

"And they couldn't have gone away. I'm going to do another sweep of the museum." Flash said and ran off again. Kyle opened his mouth to protest then shut it as the Wally came back. "Found them, they're in the jewelry exhibit."

Kyle smiled, "Lead the way," he said, trying not to think about putting a leash on Wally. That was a Bad Idea. Moving quickly (or slowly, depending on who you were talking about) they made Batman proud by quietly making their way to the jewelry exhibit. There were three men, all intent on this one case on the far side of the room. Two looked like regular thugs, the third seemed to be of the more super-villain type wearing a long dark purple robes. Kyle looked at Wally, who nodded.

"Good evening Gents," Kyle said boldly walking in. The three men turned, one of them looking like a guilty child. Kyle got a good view of the case, which was opened, a star sapphire like gem resting in the guilty looking one's hand. He felt a brush of air as the Flash rushed by him and banged into the guilty looking one, grabbing the gem. Wally laughed and slowed down enough to show off the jewel, taunting the thieves.

"No! Be gone!" the robed thief cried. He raised his hands and made a fleeting gesture, a look of strong concentration on his face. A flush of white hot energy exploded from his hand, ramming into Wally sending him sprawling into Kyle, the jewel springing from the speedster's hand. Kyle concentrated, willing his ring to work. A green vase sprang from the ring, catching the falling jewel as he caught Wally. The white hot energy spread over them, knocking the two of them to the ground.

The problem was, the last time he checked, Kyle was certain that the museum's floor was not made out of grass.

Pushing a stunned Wally off of him, Kyle looked around. They were in a sunny glade, tall golden trees reaching up towards the sky with green boughs creating a canopy that allowed for the sunlight to dapple down upon them like leopard spots. There was a rustling noise and a birdcall.

The birdcall was answered, and in stealthy silent manner that would put Batman to shame the two heroes were suddenly surrounded by a group of archers, arrows all trained at very vital bits.

"You realize," Kyle, said to Wally, "This is all your fault."

TBC...


	2. The singer and the Lady

Disclaimer: Only the story is mine. Everyone else belongs to who they belong to.

* * *

And he was never seen on Middle Earth again.

That's what they said about him. It wasn't completely true. No elf ever saw him again. That part was true. But they didn't look for him. They preferred to forget about him and the trouble he caused. And as for men, he stayed away from them. They knew little from him anyway. He was well before their time. He was only occasionally seen by a lone fisherman or a shepherd that strayed near the sea. He never left her shores.

For he had given the Sea a very important secret, but he didn't trust her to keep it. She was a fickle mistress and while most secrets were kept occasionally she liked to gossip. And the secret he entrusted with her was far too dangerous to ever be told. So he spent the years wandering by her shores mournfully singing, calling to her to remember her promise. Her duty to keep the secret.

One day as he wandered the shores near Lond Daer something caused him to pause in his singing. There was a tension in the air – a wavering in the Song of Arda as if it were listening to a new something singer. An unexpected solo. There was a rending in the fabric of the song, a jolting of the singers, ripping and violently noisy; screeching as it demanded its attention from all the other players, shoving itself into the land with as much care as an Orc takes with its victim.

Then a pause.

A gasping of air. A righting of fallen objects after an earthquake. A checking of the fallen in the aftermath of battle before plunging on.

With a new singer. A new melody in the harmony.

A new melody yes… but with a very familiar refrain.

The singing wanderer glanced towards the ocean, still silent, questioning her: How could you have given up your secret if it's still there?

This was a puzzle. This was the opening of an old wound long scarred but never completely healed. This was the reminder of an oath long – if perhaps foolishly – taken. This was a duty that must be fulfilled, once more.

So the singer turned away from the sea for the first time in over an Age and walked towards the trees, to the rivers, the mountains and the streams. To the source of this new singer that taunted him, that hurt his world.

In the dappled grove of trees Kyle looked at Wally and then at the archers around them. They had appeared practically out of nowhere. He hadn't even blinked. They just showed up, arrows pointed at them. He studied them, trying to figure something about them. They were dressed in what looked like clothes from a Renn Fair. Except the clothes were too uniform and too well tailored in soft grays and greens that blended well with these tall and majestic trees around them. And he never heard of a fair that insisted on _pointy _ears?

Perhaps they got transported to fairyland?

It was no more implausible than getting transported a million years into the future, and he had done that already.

One of the fairies started barking at them. Wally looked at him curiously.

"Do you understand what he's saying?"

Kyle smiled, "Of course. He's saying your mother is a hamster and your father smells of elderberries."

"Harde-har- har. Ring boy. Put that Cracker Jack prize to good use and Translate will you?"

Enjoying his small triumph at the Flash, for which he though was only fair for getting him drunk and making him miss his deadline, he willed the ring to translate the fairy's (though that didn't seem like a good word for them) words.

"…up. Both of you," said the lead elf (Kyle decided that elf was a better word for them). Then much to Kyle's confusion the entire group gave a collective gasp and a reflective step backwards.

Scooting closer to Kyle, Wally hissed, "What did you do?"

"Nothing!" Kyle replied looking around. He then noticed that his green Ming Vase had dissolved with him no longer willing it into existence letting the star sapphire show. But here the jewel seemed to have changed into a brilliant gem glowing with an inner light that seemed brighter and warmer than the sun. It practically pulsed with power, ebbing with the life of the world. Calling out seductively with a sorrowful song awash with love and blood, darkness, desire and ultimate sacrifice.

The elves language changed again, but the ring continued to translate it. One of the elves near the leader was hissing to the leader, "A Simaril! It has to be!"

"It can't be! The Mariner still flies above us and the other two rest safely in the earth and sea. How could two mortals – strange as they may look – retrieve them?"

"Earth and sky are safe yes, but how safe is the sea? It may have washed ashore. We must take them to the Lady. She will know what to do!"

"Take these human intruders to the Lady?"

As they were arguing, Kyle reached down to pick up the stone. The Simaril? As his hand reached over to it an arrow sliced through the air landing right between him and the gem less than half an inch before his fingers. Kyle retreated his hand.

"Friendly folk." Wally commented. "I always though elves were supposed to be shorter ya know? And with bigger ears."

"Play a bit too much dungeons and dragons as a child? You know it's evil."

"You two." The lead elf said back in the first language, apparently the argument had resolved itself, "You two will come with us. And you - " he pointed to Kyle "will take the Simaril, but if you think of even trying to escape we will kill you. You are getting a privilege not accorded to many mortals. You are getting to meet the Lady of the Light, protector of the Golden Wood."

With that pronouncement half of the elves melted back into the trees, the others taking their place loosely around he and Wally, their bows down but with the look and grace that said, we're not really relaxed, we just look like that, so don't do anything stupid. With the leader's permission, Kyle retrieved the gem. Holding it in his hand he could feel its power whispering to him. At the leader's order they started walking deeper into the woods.

Instead of getting darker, murkier, the deeper they traveled it seemed like the air grew lighter, the trees healthier. The world became more full of life. Birds called in high sweet voices. Their path was uninhibited by roots and decaying leaves, but was as soft as walking on newly laid plush carpet. Kyle wished that he had his sketchpad with him. To even try to capture what he saw. The tall trees reaching up towards the sky embracing the sunlight, the occasional hint of a deer flashing in the depths of the woods.

And a singing.

He could here something singing. It was low just almost out of the range of hearing, but as melodic – powerful – as any symphony he had heard. It reminded him of summer days spent on the beach with the sea in his nose and wind in his hair. Of tall mountains with peaks turning blush and then fiery red with the setting sun. The long ranging plains, grasses and wheat wavering and caressing against each other in the softest breeze. Of the first time he had seen the earth from space, coated in green thoughts, humming below him, welcoming him home. Serene, peaceful, safe.

And then Wally said, "I hope we're not here long cause I only have one pair of underwear and I'm not interested in wearing it for more than I have to."

Kyle and the elves shot him a look.

"What?" he protested. Kyle shook his head. "What'd I say?"

"Look at this place! Isn't it amazing?" He gestured up to the trees and the golden beams of light striking through the leaves. Wally scuffed his feet against the ground looking around himself almost like a bored child. All he was missing was his hands stuck in his pockets as he slouched.

"It's pretty sure. Trees are pretty. Birds are pretty. But you're still amazed by this? We've seen stars explode, I dunno, after that trees seem sorta mundane. Even golden trees," he said this with almost all of his typical Flash brashness but there was a hint of sadness that he had lost the wonder.

The two of them fell silent after that. Kyle watching the woods around him and Wally starting to fidget nervously. Walking was never Wally's thing. Eventually, perhaps five hours later, they came to the heart of the woods. Here the trees felt older and looked larger than redwoods. Stairs wound around the trunks disappearing into the branches. Elves drifted like glowing ghosts across the forest floors. One of the elves from the group guarding Kyle and Wally sprinted out away from them heading for one of the largest trees at a speed that impressed even Wally. Few of the elves around them stopped and gazed curiously at the strangers.

Their guards led them away from the main part of the dwellings to a small ground dwelling that looked to have been a stable at one point.

"Wait here," the leader of their guards said pointing to the inside of the shelter. Shrugging Kyle walked in and sat down cross-legged on the ground that was surprisingly clean. Wally started to pace. Their guards, from what he could see, encircled the building. Kyle used this time to look at the stone in his hand.

It glowed warmly making him think of happy thoughts, of Alex, Donna, of the first time he put on the ring. He tried discreetly analyzing it with his ring, wondering if was like the Philosopher's Stone that Luthor had a couple of years ago back when he formed the first Injustice Gang. He shuddered remembering that adventure, getting thrown ten years into the future with Wally and Aquaman –into a future Earth ruled by Darkseid – that still gave him nightmares sometimes. The jewel analyzed as a stone. A rock. Nothing unusual about it at all. Which made it all the more unusual. Except that the rock seemed to like the ring?

The thought seemed to come out of nowhere. And yet it fit.

The two of them seemed to connect some how.

Before he could evaluate this thought any further one of the elves walked into the stable and knocked his bow against the doorway. Kyle stood up as Wally stopped pacing."

"The lady wishes to see you," he said pointing to Kyle.

TBC...


	3. Those who bear the ring

Green Lantern and the Flash belong to DC Comics.

Lord of the Rings belongs to Tolkien.

The story is mine.

* * *

Kyle followed the guard up a long winding flight of stairs that took them up the biggest and highest tree that he had ever seen. By the time they reached the top he was nearly out of breath. The elf looked hardly bothered. They entered a wide platform with branches curved and bent to make arches and gratings where leaves intertwined. Sitting on a delicate looking chair was the most beautiful woman that Kyle had ever seen.

And Kyle had seen beautiful woman, from models like Jen to Amazons like Wonder Woman. And Wonder Woman was considered the most beautiful woman ever seen. But the woman – the elf maiden – before him defied everything he thought was beautiful. Wonder Woman was earthly, human beauty. Almost plain, generic looking. This creature held the beauty of the stars, of ancient wisdom, of life it seemed. She glowed with the light of the stars.

Kyle gaped in awe.

She stood up and walked towards him.

"What is your name child?" she asked in a voice of the whispered summer breeze.

"K-kyle Rayner," he stammered, his voice sounding husky and rough. He licked his lips feeling awkward and, well, human. She nodded.

"I am Galadriel, Lady of the Woods." He could feel her looking at him, looking for some sort of reaction. Getting none, or at least none that she seemed to be looking for, she continued. "I have been alive since near the beginning of this world. I have lived through three ages of it. I have seen the kin slayings. I have been to Valinor and I have left its peaceful shores. I have seen men awaken and two Dark Lords rise and fall. Of all those things the one thing that, perhaps, I found to be the most unsettling is the blood oath that my uncle and his cousins took to regain possession of three stones, the Silmarils. I had thought them passed beyond the grasping of mortal hands. Of anyone's hand. And yet do you know what I find Kyle Rayner?"

"No."

"I find that this is not so. I find that you, a mere mortal, has some how stumbled upon one of these Silmarils. How is that?"

Kyle bit his lip and then held out his hand, the hand that clutched the jewel from the robbery, the jewel that he hadn't let go of since he had gotten here. "You mean this?" he asked, opening his hand to show the stone. He saw her eyes go wide as if seeing the ghost of a memory of a long forgotten promise reborn. A hand reached out tentatively as if to touch it but then she pulled back, shaking her head.

"No, I will not be a part of such bloodshed again," she murmured. Kyle looked at her blankly. "How did you come into possession of this?" She asked the question in a completely quiet manner without a hint of threat in her voice, but somehow Kyle knew that he should, he had to answer her – and truthfully- it was rather like talking to Batman. At this thought Galadriel's eyebrow's raised curiously, but she said nothing once again.

Taking a deep breath Kyle told her about the museum and how he and Wally went to stop the Bad Guys. He glossed over the fact that they had been drunk at the time. It didn't seem like the right thing to say in front of such a lady. He told her about the man in the purple robes and the flash of white light right after Wally got the stone. And then about waking up in the forest surrounded by elves.

The entire time he talked, she said nothing. She just watched him with her starry eyes. When he finished, she shook her head. It was with amusement, Kyle thought. "And you have no idea what it is that you hold in your hands," she said with a sprinkling of laughter in her voice.

"I sense that it's very powerful. It calls to my ring." Kyle said.

"Your ring?" she repeated curiously. "May I see it?"

He held took off his ring and held it out to her. He wasn't afraid of her taking it. He knew, somehow, that she wouldn't. With long white delicate fingers she took the ring and held it up.

"A ring of power."

"It's called a Green Lantern Power Ring," Kyle corrected, but gently.

"Green Lantern?" she asked, "You say it as if there are more than just this one."

"There are. Or were," he said, "But it's not something I'd like to go into. It's a rather long and messy story."

She nodded, a sheet of her golden hair spilling over her shoulder. "Rings of power are very dangerous things Kyle Rayner and are not to be used lightly here for there are dark things that would care to have them."

Kyle wanted to scoff at Galadriel's concern, but that seemed like it would be one of deepest mistakes he could make. Instead he said, "I will remember that."

"Very well." She smiled at him and he felt like he had saved the world, again.

"Galadriel? You know Wally and I are not from this world, do you know how we can return?" Kyle asked. Her smile darkened into a frown.

"Only the Valar would know, and no human, except one, has ever been allowed to visit their isle," she said almost sadly, her gaze turning out towards the west. Kyle shifted uncomfortably. "I have some things that I must discuss. Go, return to your friend, I will send for the both of you later for the evening meal."

Kyle, realizing a dismissal when he heard one, gave an awkward bow and left the platform. He was met by the same elf that had brought him up to see Lady Galadriel. The elf shadowed him down the stairs and then led him back to Wally.

Wally was pacing back and forth in their little hut. He dashed over to Kyle and grabbed him by the arms.

"Wherewereyou?Areyouokay?whathappenedtoyou?didtheydoanythingtoyou?"

"Whoa Wally, Slow down, every thing's okay."

"Are you sure?" Wally asked, looking him over. "They didn't brain wash you or anything?" Kyle laughed and shook his head. "Well did you find out where we are and what happened?"

Kyle opened his mouth to assure Wally that everything was in hand, when he realized that, no he hadn't found out anything really. "No… I didn't. I did find out something about this though," and he held up the Silmaril.

"What?"

"It's called a Silmaril and it's one of three. Apparently it was thought to be lost after a long war."

"But you found it"

"Well more like we found it, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Wally scratched his head. "So now what?"

"We wait. She said she would send for us."

"Great. So who is she?"

Kyle frowned, trying to figure out how to put the Lady into words. It felt as if no words could do her justice. "She's the leader of these people, I think. Her name is Galadriel," he said finally. "She's very old as well…" He stopped as he realized that Wally was staring at him. "What?"

"Nothing, you just look like you've seen the most beautiful thing in the world." Here Wally actually sounded wistful and slightly envious.

"She was."

Silence fell between the two heroes for a moment, before Wally said, "So we wait now?"

* * *

Next: dinner and discussion.  



End file.
